Meek Heroes
by war hippy fatigues
Summary: (A novelization of Persona 5) Being a Phantom Thief was never an easy job. For the gentle at heart, it was an especially difficult challenge; but not an insurmountable one.
1. New Beginnings

_"Can you hear me? Hello? Are you still conscious?"_

 _"...yes. What's going on here?"_

 _"We don't have much time here. For your sake, you should answer my questions honestly. I'm Sae Niijama, a prosecutor who's been working on your case for a long time now. Your testimony could prove to be extremely valuable to a number of concerning problems the police have been facing for the past months. We've also met before, correct?"_

 _"Oh, right. You were that lady who tried to..."_

 _"Well, it seems you're_ _coherent, at least. Now, I want you to tell me everything, from the very beginning. Be clear and concise."_

 _"I don't think you'd believe it if I told you_ everything _."_

 _"What I choose to believe is not up for you to decide. Now, talk."_

 _"Very well. It all started on..."_

* * *

April 9th was, by most accounts, a normal Saturday in Tokyo. The trains rolled and the crowds buzzed as people went about their daily metropolitan lives. For me, it wasn't the kind of day you'd expect from a normal high school student. Most people at that age didn't move away from their parents to a stranger's house as a result of gaining a criminal record from a chance nocturnal encounter. At that point, I thought I had owned up to the fact that my life wasn't going to be normal. Even so, thinking about it still stung.

At the time, I had just arrived in Nakano station from Nagoya. The plan I had for the day was simple: ride the Tokyo metro to Yongen-Jaya, meet up with the man who would be lodging me in the city for the year, store my bags away, and buy a yearlong commuter pass for the subway before getting some sleep to make up for having caught the train at 5 in the morning. That left me with around twenty minutes or so to get on the red line from Nakano station, if worst came to worst and the city was as packed as I'd imagined it to be. I quickly grabbed my things and rushed out of the car.

In hindsight, it really was remarkable how different my imagined worse case scenario was from the one I actually encountered.

The path to the red line wasn't too bad. I had looked up where and how to pay my fares in advance. The station was crowded, sure, but not enough to screw up my schedule. The real problem occurred when I got off to transfer to the orange line and was greeted by the wailing of sirens. Gingerly stepping out of the train, I dragged my stuff up some stairs and ran into a line of policeman standing in front of the passageway leading to the orange line. Behind them, I could spot a couple of loaded stretchers being attended to by what looked to be paramedics.

"Move along," one of the policemen said, gesturing at the crowd that had formed from the most recent arrivals to the station.

Not fully processing the scene at hand, I blearily grabbed my stuff and heading in the direction they were directing us, which turned out to be outside the station. A bunch of emergency vehicles had piled around the entrance in every open spot on the that was available. Another pair of emergency workers guided us across the street, into a bigger crowd that was standing around and taking pictures.

"Did you hear? There was an accident," someone was saying.

"The news said one of the trains derailed here..."

"How bad do you think other people were hurt?"

"I heard they shut the whole orange line down..."

When my mind pieced together the details of what had happened, I groaned and held my face in my hands. Already, my plans were completely messed up. Either I would end up being several hours late to Yongen-Jaya by being forced to walk all the way from Kanda station, or I could pay a ton of money for a taxi to get there on time and hope that my parents would be able and willing to send me more money by Sunday so I could afford the commuter pass. Neither option was especially appealing, as I was hoping to make the best impression I could on my new guardian, but money still struck me as being the bigger issue. So I took out my phone, looked at a map of the city, and headed down a road that seemed to be the quickest way to my destination.

Despite the accident at the subway, the rest of Tokyo hardly seemed to mind the disturbance. The streets were packed with all kinds of people, especially younger ones who looked to be enjoying the spring weather. It wasn't a sentiment I shared, as I had picked out a heavier outfit to deal with waiting for the train in the morning under the expectation that I wouldn't be doing anything physically exerting today. Now I was beginning to sweat as the midday sun continued to beat down on my neck while I hauled my luggage around. A year ago, I might have complained about my awful luck, but ever since the incident with the drunk man, I was determined to keep focusing on the things I could change.

Unfortunately, it didn't take too long before the map I had on my phone stopped lining up with the streets I was passing by. After backtracking and double checking that I was getting the wrong information, I decided to try using a dedicated navigation app instead of looking at the map I had simply downloaded from the internet. As I swiped around, an app I hadn't seen before on my phone caught my eye. Pressing it brought up an image of a swirling, ominous red eye. Thinking it was rather pointless, I glanced up, and noticed that the entire world had ground to a halt, with pedestrians and traffic alike frozen in place.

"What? That can't be right," I muttered to myself.

It wasn't. I rubbed my eyes and saw the world had returned to its normal, busy self. I shrugged and assumed that the sight had just been a minor hallucination resulting from my lack of sleep.

In the end, it took me two and a half hours to get to Yongen-Jaya on foot. It was a minor ordeal that left my feet and ears sore from the seemingly endless expanses of concrete and screeching vehicles of the city. I was convinced that there must have been a shorter route I could have taken if I had been more familiar with the location, as the path I ended up using involved too much winding through narrow streets and labyrinthine alleys for my tastes. Wiping sweat off my brow, I glanced around the tightly packed maze of two story apartments and shops I would be calling home for the rest of my high school career. Visually speaking, it seemed like a fine enough place to live in, but I had been hearing nasty rumors about it and the surrounding parts of Tokyo. There were reports of various drug related crimes, robberies, and scams being on the rise, particularly in Shibuya. I resolved again to keep my head down and to stay out of trouble as much as possible.

The man I was looking for in Yongen-Jaya was Mr Sakura. My parents vaguely knew him through a mutual acquaintance of some sort, although I wasn't too familiar with the details. Being as late as I was, I wasn't surprised when he wasn't in when I rang the doorbell to his house. Thinking that he had decided to go out somewhere, I resigned myself to waiting outside for him to get back, when a passing deliveryman happened to rescue me.

"You wouldn't happen to be looking for Mr. Sakura, would you?" the man said, carrying a heavy looking parcel down the road.

I quickly turned to face him. "Uh, yes, I am. Sir."

"Well, normally he isn't in at these hours. You'd have more luck checking the cafe he runs. It's called Leblanc, it's right in the neighborhood around here."

"Thanks."

The Leblanc cafe was a small, dim place nestled in between a local clothes store and a featureless brick apartment. The strong smell of coffee caught my attention as I walked inside the restaurant. A little TV in the top corner of the room showed a flat faced reporter droning on about a local road accident in between intermittent bouts of fuzz. The restaurant was split evenly down the middle between a bar with a few chairs, a cash register, and an old landline phone, while the other half was mostly taken up by four tables that were all empty. An older looking man with a pink shirt and apron was busying himself in a newspaper, before he noticed me and got a disappointed look on his face.

"Are you Akira, then?" the man asked. "You're several hours late, you know. I had to open the shop up late because of you."

"I'm sorry, Mister..."

"Sojiro Sakura."

"I would have gotten here earlier, but there was a subway accident," I continued. "One of the trains got derailed and they had to shut the orange line down. I had to walk the rest of the way here."

"Did that happen? Hmph. Someone really ought to be paying more attention to stuff like that."

Mr Sakura stood up and folded his newspaper on the counter. "First, let's get a few things straight. I'm already well aware of the situation that brought you here. This is your last chance to prove that you're willing to be a productive member of society, and for the sake of your parents and myself, you really shouldn't screw it up. I'm doing a lot for you by letting you stay here, got that?"

"Of course, sir."

"In return, I'm absolutely expecting you not to betray my trust. I want nothing but model student behavior from you. Two steps out of line, or if I get a whiff of anything criminal from you, and you're done for. Got it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Mmm-hmm. Come upstairs, and I'll show you where you're staying."

Sakura led me up a flight of stairs at the end of the cafe to a dusty attic filled with various boxes, bags, cans, and pieces of furniture. From the amount of cobwebs that spiders had laid out on the ceiling and on the many scattered items in the room, I could tell that the place wasn't used very often.

"This is where you'll be sleeping," Sakura said. "I can give you sheets for your bed, but you'll be responsible for cleaning the place up. I'm sure you can handle that, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"We'll be heading to Shujin tomorrow to introduce you to the staff there. You know how lucky you are that they accepted you, despite your sentence, correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"Hmph. What a waste of a Sunday... well, get to work. I'll be down in the cafe for now. You stay up here for now. I don't want you bothering any of the customers. Understood?"

"Yes, sir. But..."

"But what?"

"I need to pick up a commuter pass, for the subway. So I can get to school."

"I can take you there tomorrow after we go to your school. But for now, I'm busy." Sakura took one last look at me and the attic before turning around and walking down the stairs.

I took a deep breath as I set down my bags and took in the place I would be spending the next year in. One one hand, I felt relieved that things had gone well enough to meet my expectations. I didn't screw things up completely by being late, and I would be going to Shujin. I still had a future. Still, the reception Sakura had given me couldn't help but feel like having cold water splashed in my face. Did he really have to go and stick me in the crummy old attic, just like that? Without even bothering to clear it out first...?

I ran my hands through my hair to calm myself down. I was in no position to be making such demands; I was a teenager with a criminal record, after all. I had no right to be so imposing. The attic would be more than enough. I could make it work. With a fair bit of spring cleaning, it would look just fine. I had to do it, anyway. I would go crazy if I spent too long cooped up in such a messy place. I never could stand messes. The general disorganized atmosphere of the place was already making my fingers twitch.

So, clean I did. After the hardships involved in coming here, it was nice to have a simple task to focus on. I got so carried away with it that I hardly noticed the sun setting behind the one pair of windows the attic had. I didn't have enough time to get the whole attic up to my standards by evening, but I had at least managed to get most of the dust off the floor and group most of the related junk together.

I paused and turned around as I heard Mr Sakura coming up the stairs again.

"You really spent the rest of the day cleaning, huh?" Sakura said. "Interesting."

"Uh..."

"We'll be leaving early in the morning tomorrow to head to your school. You should get some rest. I'll be locking up the store now, okay?"

"Yes, sir."

I stood still for a little while as Mr Sakura left, before relenting and getting ready to sleep. There wasn't much else for me to do there, anyway. No classes to study for, no friends to meet up with. I did send a brief message to my parents, informing them that I had arrived safely and set things up with Mr Sakura. Then there was little else to do but wait for the time I lost in the morning to catch up with me...

Sunday proved itself to be similarly frustrating in some regards. First, there was the matter of meeting with Shujin Academy's principal and filling out some paperwork. The school itself was a three story block of concrete crammed in between several other nondescript, industrial looking buildings. Just getting there from Yongen-Jaya took several different route transfers on the metro. Shujin had a reputation for spending lavish amounts of money on trivialities like school trips and sporting events, while letting its actual academics suffer. It was hardly the first choice a normal person might make when looking for a school in the Tokyo area, but for someone like me, it was gold. A second chance. A place to start anew.

The principal of the school turned out to be a rather corpulent and egg shaped man, who went over my forms with his beady eyes while glancing to a cabinet filled with trophies to his side every few seconds.

"Well," the principal said. "Everything does seem to be order." He started tapping a pen against his desk. "You know we have every right to expel you immediately if you are to cause any problems here, correct?"

"Yes, sir," I said.

"Good, good. Ms Kawakami will be your homeroom teacher. We'll have the class schedules posted in the main hall tomorrow. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Very well. Here's your student ID. Now if you could just sign here..."

Things got worse when me and Sakura left to get my commuter pass, as we quickly hit a nasty patch of traffic. Soon we were barely moving one car's length forward along the road per minute.

"Dammit," Sakura muttered. "I bet it's because of that subway accident. Spooked a bunch of people into driving for the next few days. Now I'm going to be late again for opening the cafe."

I hung my head in shame. "I'm sorry, sir."

"Well, let's just not make a habit out of this."

It took us the entire afternoon to get to the station selling year long passes, whereupon I discovered that the price they had listen on their website had been incorrect, and was forced to cover the rest with nearly all of the money my parents had sent me with for a potential emergency. I still saw it was a better option then asking Mr Sakura or my parents for more money, though. I was already causing them both enough trouble as it was. Getting a part time job somewhere in the city would also have been a huge help, but I doubted I could find anyone willing to hire a teen with a criminal record and without a completed high school education.

Another ride through gridlocked Tokyo brought us back to Yongen-Jaya, where I unceremoniously sat down in the attic while Sakura busied himself with the restaurant. I could have spent more time cleaning, but couldn't find the effort needed for it, so I instead decided to browse some random websites on my phone to pass the time. My mind wasn't really on what I was reading, however. I couldn't keep my focus from drifting to Shujin. Of how I had screwed up before.

 _I won't let you guys down again. This time, I'll be a good student. I'll keep my head down and make you proud of me. I'll get better grades. I won't cause any trouble. I'll..._

It was a long while before an uneasy sleep overtook me, in that old and spacious attic.


	2. Awakening?

A first day of school, to me, was always a day prone to anticipation and worry. It was the day when I would have the least amount of information going in, and when I could make the most mistakes. There were so many faux passes that could be committed in such a short time span. So many little ways to crew up if I wasn't careful. Idle reminders trickled through my head as I got up and sprayed some cold water on my face. _Be punctual. Triple check the classroom information so you don't get lost. Smile when the teacher introduces you. Don't say anything leading about where you came from or what brought you to Shujin. Don't speak out of turn._

They were typical pointers, to be sure, but I had forgotten at least two of them the last time I showed up to a new school.

"There have been several reports that local subway routes may be delayed near the Shibuya region..."

I grimaced while putting the school's uniform on as the TV downstairs continued to bleat out news reports. The thing was an over designed mess of buttons and badges in the front, stiff and uncomfortable in the back, and featured both undersized pockets and a tendency to collect sweat. Already, the collar region was starting to itch away at my neck. The simple black and white of the top part of the outfit might have been somewhat passable enough out in public, but the striped black and red pants looked like they were taken from a colorblind marching band. On the whole, the thing was a mess, but it would have to do.

"Everything's going to be fine," I muttered to myself, before gathering my things and heading down the stairs.

The early morning light hadn't fully transitioned from gray to blue as it shone through the windows of Cafe Leblanc. Mr Sakura had been busying himself with a series of coffee machines laid out on the bar, only to stop when I came down.

"Good to see you're taking this seriously, then," Sakura grunted. "They say the trains are going to be running late for where you're headed. That's why it's always better to be up a few minutes earlier."

"Yes, sir." I sheepishly glanced around the room, before looking right at Sakura. "You, uh... wouldn't happen to have something I could eat for breakfast first, would you?"

"There's some curry that's brewing in a pot by the kitchen. Don't take too much, though."

For me, curry for breakfast was a definite first. I always preferred early morning meals to be expedient instead of filling, considering how time in the mornings was always of the essence. But ff Sakura was the one who would be making it, then I saw no reason to complain.

Nevertheless, I was still struck with a note of trepidation when I hurriedly grabbed a spare plate and spooned some of the orange contents of the pot onto it. I had heard a few horror stories of the kind of curry you might find in shoddy restaurants in my time, with most of them being focused on what said curry would do to the stomach of whoever ate it hours afterwards. That fear vanished the instant the food reached my tongue, however, as it became immediately clear that Sakura knew his stuff. I hastily ate away at the rest of my plate before rushing away to clean it.

"So, you like it, huh?" Sakura asked, giving me an inquisitive look as I finished putting the plate away.

"Yeah," I mumbled. "It's quite good. Sir."

"Good to know that you can at least appreciate some of the finer things in life, then. Well, could you flip the sign on the door around as you leave?"

I turned towards the exit of the cafe, but felt something holding me back from just walking so suddenly out the door. Even though I barely knew Mr Sakura at all, it didn't sit well with me to just leave without me saying something. I put my hands in my pockets while trying to think of something meaningful that I could say about my predicament.

"What is it?" Sakura intoned, glancing away from his coffee once again.

"Well, Mr Sakura, I just wanted to say, that what you've done for me... it really means a lot, sir." The collar of my uniform had begun to itch again, and it took all the willpower in my body not to scratch at it. "Taking me in here after what happened, and giving me a second chance. I promise... I won't let you down here, okay? I'll put this opportunity to good use."

"Mhmm. Well, stay out of trouble, then."

Feeling a little better about my situation, I sprung out of the cafe, making sure to flip the sign as I left. The back alleys outside were already beginning to fill up with people passing each other by in the early morning rush. I walked by them all without so much as waving or saying a word, doing my best to appear inconspicuous. Inconspicuous was good. It wouldn't do to be giving off any unnerving vibes to my new neighbors, after all.

The subway station at Yongen-Jaya was heavily packed by the time I got there. A friend had once described the average Tokyo commute as being like a sardine's journey through a cannery, which I found to be quite a potent description once I saw one of the trains coming in. All the seats had been taken, and the space left over was already occupied by a small sea of indistinct faces and bodies, trying desperately as they could not to brush against each other. I scraped into one of the corners and huddled against a wall, feeling several blunt bits of metal poking me in the back. The train roared away soon afterward, blowing heavy gusts of warm underground air through the car. Even knowing I was going somewhere, it was difficult to relax, as my mind immediately began fretting over if I had memorized the next station I had to transfer at. The whole way through, I found myself repeatedly glancing up at a listing of the stations posted on the ceiling. Nervously counting up each stop, going over the names again and again...

Four transfers later, and I finally ended up in Aoyama-Itchome. I had arrived with time to spare, but I still couldn't help but feel a little tired. For a moment, I questioned if this was something I could adapt to, before shaking my head and pressing forward. I would have to get used to it. It would get better as the route became routine.

I discovered that the weather had spuriously chosen to worsen up on me as I climbed out of the subway station into an open section of roads and stores. The sun had halfway disappeared behind several thick smudges of gray in the sky, which were responsible for a light drizzle that was just enough to get one's clothes wet, but not heavy enough to have convinced the weather forecasters to recommend bringing any umbrellas. Seeing as I still had a good twenty minutes before school started, I decided to try waiting under the awning of a clothing store to see if the rain might pass. A few minutes passed as I saw a couple of people wearing what looked like Shujin uniforms ran by. It was mildly gratifying to see that none of them had brought umbrellas.

"Morning," a gruff male voice called out in my direction. "You wouldn't happen to be a Shujin student, would you? I could give you a ride there."

I blinked and noticed that a car had stopped by me on the road. The man who had spoke to me had just finished rolling down the window, revealing a preposterously square chin connected to a weak smile, a small crop of receding hair, and a blue tracksuit. Behind him I could also make out the details of a girl with bleached hair, who was looking the other way.

Not knowing what to make of the situation, I started running a hand through my hair. "Um, well-"

The man glanced down the street and immediately stopped paying attention to me. A look of weary resignation crossed his face as he sped down the road, splashing water up the sidewalk as he went. A possible reason for his early departure showed up right afterwards, in the form of an angry young man running down the street after the car.

"The hell does he think he's playing at?" the guy muttered, stopping a few feet past me.

"What?" I asked.

He turned around and sized me up, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He was wearing a Shujin uniform as well, although he hadn't bothered buttoning the top up to hide a garish yellow shirt that laid below it. He walked with a slouch and a scowl that both made him seem like bad news. I really hoped that he wasn't going to hit me for somehow speaking out of turn.

"Hey, man," he said. "Don't tell me you're gonna talk to Kamoshida about this, are you?"

"Who?" I tried to make myself look busy with polishing my glasses, even though they were perfectly clear.

"Dude, everyone knows who Kamoshida is!"

"I, uh, I just transferred here."

Thankfully, that was enough to convince him to stand down. He scratched his chin and stood up, now looking more thoughtful. "I see. Well, you'll get to know him. Everyone here does, soon enough."

"You make him sound like an interesting character."

"You don't know the half of it, man. Anyways, what's your name?"

I tried to relax as well, letting my bag rest lower on my shoulders. "Akira Kurusu."

"I'm Ryuji Sakamoto. Second year here at Shujin."

So it was possible that we might be sharing some classes together. I wasn't exactly thrilled by the scenario. "So what was the deal with Kamoshida, again?"

Ryuji crossed his arms together and scowled. "He's a teacher here at Shujin. A real scumbag one. Likes to perv on girls in his care, y'know? That's why I thought he stopped around here."

"Really?" _And if he was actually doing that, you thought you could stop him so easily?_ "Why would he offer me a ride, then?"

"Eh, who the hell knows. Some days he's real predictable about what he wants. Other times he's like the crazy king of some castle. Or something."

"Uh, right."

The rain had slowed significantly at that point, prompting me to move away from the awning. "We should get going. Don't want to be late, after all."

Ryuji sighed and slumped down again. "Think Kamoshida's already ruined my day, man. What a waste."

I kept quiet as I trudged down the wet street, taking care to avoid the puddles I saw. Kept my eyes to the floor while turning through a couple of alleys to the little street where the school should have been. Should have been.

"What...?"

If I had been carrying my phone at that moment, I almost certainly would've dropped it. Where I would have expected to see the concrete block of Shujin academy rising upwards was instead a red stone wall that extended a ways in both directions, topped with a trim of shiny golden bricks. The wall was bisected by a heavy metal gate that had been retracted upwards. Beyond the wall I could see a larger stone building looming behind mist that appeared almost purplish, as if the sun was somehow setting at that moment. The rain had stopped completely, and the air immediately felt like it had become ten degrees warmer.

"Uh."

I looked to the side and saw that Ryuji had arrived, and was just as confused as I was. "This is where Shujin is supposed to be, right?"

"Of course!" Ryuji said, although he didn't look very sure. "Something else must be going on here."

"Something else?"

"Maybe some... spontaneous redecoration? Testing out a holographic projector?"

I gingerly stepped forward and tapped the stone wall with my hand. It felt as real as rock could be.

"Okay, this is a little bit crazy."

"Just a little bit," I said. I racked my brains to try and recall if I had consumed any strange substances before arriving there. Nothing came to mind.

"Maybe we should go inside? Maybe there are other confused students there, too."

"I really hope so."

Past the gate was an ornate hall, lit with many small candles hung up against a number of columns that supported a cavernous roof. Additional light filtered onto little spots on the smooth tiled floor from small windows that were located far and up the walls. A large chandelier swayed slowly back and forth overhead. The place was utterly quiet aside from the faint gurgling of water in the distance. No one aside from me or Ryuji was in sight.

"What the hell is this?" Ryuji said, scuffing a rug on the floor with his shoe. "Some kinda ghost house thing?"

"I don't see any ghosts."

"Okay, this definitely isn't the right place." Ryuji pulled out a phone and tapped at the screen a couple of times, before scowling and putting it away. "And there's no service, too. Figures."

"Maybe we should leave and tell the cops about this?"

"That _is_ starting to sound like a good idea."

The clanking was what I heard first; rusty bits of metal creaking and straining as they ground against each other. The sound was quite loud and had me immediately turning to my left. As my eyes swept in that direction, the edges of my peripheral vision revealed a human figure approaching us. It was covered from head to toe in armor, like some kind of knight, and it wielded a sword and heavy shield with ease. Its helmet contained a flat blue mask with a face painted on it, whose large eyes and lips appeared pensive, or perhaps even sad, in a feminine sort of way.

"Where the hell did that thing come from?" Ryuji whispered.

It was a good question. The amount of noise the thing made while walking meant that it couldn't have appeared in the hall without alerting us to it much earlier... yet there it was, and we were looking at it, surprised.

"We really should be leaving now," I whispered back, with as much confidence as I could muster.

We turned back to the gate, and found four more masked knights looking right at us.

"Uh-"

We didn't stand a chance. The guys in armor had us cornered instantly and threw us to the ground, before putting sacks over our heads and dragging us away by the arms. When they finally set us down, we were in a musty cell that was part of a larger prison system which we couldn't see the full extent of. The armored thugs who had taken us there locked the door and stomped away.

"Ugh.."

I tried and failed to brush some of the soreness from my limbs while standing up. The cell was much darker than the hall had been, being lit only by a solitary torch outside in the hall. The sound of running water had become much louder.

"What the hell is going on? Where are we?" Ryuji wheezed, walking over to the door and fruitlessly pulling at it. "This is insane. Is this a dream? No, I would've woken up by now if this was a dream."

"I don't think that's going to open."

"I have to try, don't I?!"

"You might make them angry again."

"Would you cut that crap for a minute? I don't want to die here, alright?" Ryuji kicked the door in frustration and started screaming. "HELLO?! IS ANYONE OUT THERE? HELLO?"

No one answered him. The sounds of water rushing away and the torch in the hall crackling were all we heard.

"Maybe we should look for things here that could help us," I suggested.

The endeavour turned out to be a waste of time. There was nothing of value in the cell - just some burlap sacks, a bed made of rotting wood, and a few chunks of broken bricks. Nothing to help us escape or defend ourselves with. Our captors hadn't even had the courtesy to leave us a bucket. I wasn't particularly surprised at that point, of course.

"Looks like we're out of options, then," I said, sitting down on the bed.

Ryuji glared at me. "So you're saying we're just going to die here?"

I didn't want to confirm it, but the deep knot in my gut suggested that the possibility was pretty likely. "All we can do now is wait and hope that some kind of help arrives."

"So you're giving up."

 _Sometimes, that's all you can do._ I decided on a whim to check my phone, despite Ryuji's earlier assurances that there was no service, and found that the strange app from when I had arrived in Tokyo had opened itself and was showing the swirling red eye again. I felt a brief surge of hope and began hammering the screen, desperately thinking that I could cause something useful to happen, but the app proved to be completely unresponsive. I sighed and put my phone away again.

"What was that?" Ryuji asked.

"Nothing important."

We sat in silence in that cell for a while longer. I kept track of the time that passed for twenty minutes before I gave up trying to make sense of the madness and decided to try tracing patterns in the dusty floor instead. Occasionally, we would hear the buzzing of flies moving past us in the distance, or faint thumping that suggested something heavy was moving around above us. The darkness outside of the cell remained impenetrable as could be.

It gave me time to reflect on how the situation wasn't so different from how I ended up in Tokyo to begin with. It had taken just one mistake, one little lapse of judgment, and everything had gone sour very quickly. The mistake hadn't looked like a mistake at the time, either, even though it appeared obvious now. Don't get involved with strangers making a scene at night. Don't walk into strange, glowing castles. I could only hope that I would get some kind of explanation for the absurdity of it all at some point before the worst came.

There was a part of me that still wanted to complain about the unfairness of it all. The more rational side of me was already working on accepting the obvious. That I had screwed up again. And on the very first day of school, too. My parents would be so proud of me.

Then, the sounds of metal creaking came again. This time, they grew audibly from a distance instead of appearing suddenly from what seemed like nowhere. The masked knights had returned, and this time they appeared to be escorting a man with them.

"What the hell," Ryuji muttered, squinting at the figures as they got closer. "Is that Kamoshida?"

The man was quite similar to the one I had seen in the car that morning, but a couple of things were off. The first issue was his eyes, which had become bright yellow. The second was his choice of attire, which looked ridiculous. He wore a golden crown, a regal looking cape with a fur collar that was patterned with hearts, nothing but a bright pink speedo underneath that, and equally pink slippers. It was like some bizarre fusion between a drunk bachelor at home and a monarch. Under different circumstances, I would have laughed at the sight of him.

"A-hem," Kamoshida coughed as he reached our cell. "So these were the intruders you were talking about? A pity. I was hoping not to interrupt my schedule for today, but I suppose surprises are the best way to liven one's self up."

"Look, Kamoshida," Ryuji said. "I don't know what you're playing at, but-"

"So why not start my Monday off with two executions? The penalty for trespassing in my castle is death, after all!"

It took a second for Kamoshida's words to sink in. "Y-you freak-"

"Actually, make that four executions, since the penalty for insulting the king is also death! I'm sure I'll think of something..."

Kamoshida waved his arm, and the masked knights opened the cell door and walked in, weapons drawn.

"You-you can't-" I sputtered.

"You know, why don't we start with this one?" Kamoshida said, pointing right at my chest. "This no good brat was giving me so much trouble earlier. All these troublesome extra forms and things to sign, just because of one assault charge! Wasting the king's time is a penalty punishable by death! Six executions!"

Two knights stepped forward, ever so slowly, while the others blocked off Ryuji. Their swords creeping towards my neck.

"Not that you need encouragement, right?" Kamoshida continued. "I can see it in your eyes. The desire to submit. Don't fight it. Give in. Give in to my power. To my authority. Submit!"

"He isn't wrong, you know," another voice seemed to say, while time crawled forward. "Your entire journey here has been one of passivity. You've already accepted your fate and decided that you're going to lie down and take it. There really isn't any helping you, is there?"

 _What do you mean?_ I wanted to reply. _There wasn't anything I could have done! I did the absolute best I could with my circumstances!_

"Opportune words spoken by weak men. Even though you faced injustice, you accepted it as truth, and the sins committed by others as your own. Even if the path to rebellion were to be opened to you right now, you have already corralled yourself off from it. You truly are pathetic."

 _I am not pathetic!_

"Not pathetic! Yet here you are, cowering like a rat in a cage. The truly indomitable would at least be making an effort of resistance, even when at their lowest point."

 _What difference would that make?_

"What difference marks the brave from the cowardly, the insightful from the insipid, the rebel from the slave? It is as I feared. You are wasting my time."

 _Shut up! You don't understand-_

"What don't I understand?! I am you, and you are me. And I understand that you have given up. You have chosen to let these corrupt authorities rule absolutely over you. So why shouldn't they be free to do with you as they please? Perhaps it's you who deserves to die."

 _That's not-_

"IT'S NOT WHAT, BOY?!"

 _It's not fair._

"That's better."

Time sped up again as one of the knights slashed at me with its sword. Backed up against a wall, I had nowhere to go, and it would have surely killed me, were it not miraculously thrown backwards at the last second by a burst of blue flames. My relief at surviving was short lived, as my face was suddenly overcome by an immense pain.

"Aaargh-"

It was as if a nest of termites, ants, and wasps had all suddenly appeared right under my skin. My arms moved up in a frenzy, as I was overcome with the insatiable urge to scratch and claw at my own flesh. My hands were blocked from my face by something hard, which made me panic. I had to get the things out of my skin. I found edges of the thing on my face and pulled as hard as I could, which only made the pain worse. The thing felt like it had been glued there, and wasn't budging. In desperation I could only pull harder, only focus on how it appeared to move a little, with perhaps a bit more effort...

Then, it came off, and the effect was like finally pulling off a bandage. The pain was gone, and the world was clear. Huge torrents of fire swept away from me, incinerating two of the nearest knights. From thin air appeared a strange, red devil-like creature with feathery wings and an oversized knife, who hovered over me, leering at all who looked upon his face.

"I am Arsene, the pillager of twilight," the creature said. "The rebel's soul residing within you. You have shown a moment of defiance in the face of injustice. In return, I will consider lending you my power to create your own justice. What are your intentions?"

"I want to get out of here," I said.

"Hmph. I suppose that is a goal I can abide by. I shall aid you for now."

Kamoshida, who had been watching the whole scene on the floor in shock, finally stood up. "Guards - seize him!"

The two remaining knights moved to face me, but began twisting and contorting as they drew closer to Arsene, before violently convulsing and deforming into floating jack-o-lanterns.

"Do not be frightened by these enemies you see!" Arsene said. "They cower before those who act with conviction. Strike them!"

A word floated to the top of my consciousness. Pointing to one of the jack-o-lanterns, I shouted, "Eiha!"

A clump of darkness shot up from the floor, engulfing the creature in an instant and leaving nothing behind. In response, I couldn't help but smile. For the first time in quite a while, it really felt as if things were going my way.

The other jack-o-lantern became enraged and swung forward at me, spitting fire out of its mouth. Blessed with a surge of speed and adrenaline I didn't know I was capable of, I rolled out of the way, leaving a burnt spot on the wall I had been standing by.

"Take this!" Arsene said, throwing me his knife.

I caught it by the handle and turned on the remaining jack-o-lantern. Sidestepping another charge it made, I managed to lunge forward and drive the knife deep inside it. It screamed in response, dropping to the floor as a lifeless husk.

I paused to look at where Kamoshida had been standing, only to catch a glimpse of him running away. I also noticed Ryuji, who was staring at me in awe.

"Woah," Ryuji said.

"Yeah," I replied.

We looked at each other for a moment longer before I turned back to Arsene.

"You have done well thus far," Arsene said. "But this is only the first of many challenges that will await you. Are you ready to face them?"

"I don't know," I said. _Or if I even want to. This is all so confusing._

Arsene did not reply, but instead vanished in another flash of blue flame. With him gone, the elation and courage that had been holding me together for the past minute seemed to vanish as well. The world began to spin, and I leaned against the wall heavily in order to keep upright.

"You alright, man?" Ryuji asked.

"Let's... not do that again," I said.


	3. Escape to Expectations

"So, you wanna tell me what the hell happened just now?"

I steadied myself as I let go of the wall, trying not to wobble too much. "I'm not sure if there's much I can tell you."

"Well, what's with the clothes?"

"Clothes...?" I looked down and discovered my school uniform had vanished. In its place was an oversized black coat with a large collar, some kind of grey vest, and bright red gloves. In addition to that, I noticed a light weight pressing against my face. Investigating it revealed that I had been wearing a small, v-shaped mask that only covered the top half of my face as well.

"Yeah, I don't know what's up with that." I took a few tentative steps to the cell door and peeked around the side. The impenetrable darkness wasn't appealing, but at least there weren't any more knights lurking around. "We should get the hell out of here."

"Which way should we go, though?" Ryuji said,

"I think I heard the armored guys came here from the right. I don't know if going that's where we want to go, though."

"This place looks like a prison, though. It probably only has one way out."

"Maybe. We'd have to keep quiet, though."

"No shit."

I took in a deep breath and stepped out of the cell. Nothing immediately jumped at me, and the surrounding area stayed quiet. I put one hand against the wall, the other tightly gripping the knife from Arsene, and started walking into the darkness. Not seeing where my feet would land quickly became worrisome, so I reduced my movement to shuffling forward, ever wary of running into an unexpected gap. The wall didn't branch or twist off in other directions, instead continuing straight on as I moved forward. The sounds of water got increasingly louder as I continued, until I reached another source of light and saw a decent sized stream of water flowing at a rapid pace, foaming and splashing against the walls holding it in.

The river split a larger room into two sides, with a raised drawbridge being the only thing that could connect them. The room was much better lit than the previous one had been, and numerous cells were visible on each side of the water. There were several birdcages hanging from chains connected to the ceiling, some of which were occupied by limp human figures. Dozens of flies were swarming over an upturned barrel, which was in the process of leaking what looked like wine onto the ground. From where I was standing, no knights were visible.

"Damnit," Ryuji muttered, looking at the birdcages. "You think those guys got captured too?"

"Maybe. Doesn't look like we can help them, though."

"Bullshit, man. We should at least try!"

"Keep your voice down," I hissed. "We can look if there's a way to get them out, but I'm not going to risk my neck if it's clear there's nothing we can do. Leave everything else for the cops."

We crept forward along the edge of the path, approaching one of the cages. On a closer inspection, the person inside appeared to be a guy around the same age as us. He was lying uncomfortably with his arms and legs hanging out of the bars, wearing only rags. A number of bruises were visible on his limbs, along with one especially nasty spot that appeared to have resulted from it being branded.

"Were they torturing him?" Ryuji said. "This is horrifying." He stood up and jumped at the cage, causing it to swing back and forth on the chain. "Hey, man, are you alright? Wake up!"

The unconscious guy didn't respond. "We have to leave him," I said. "Kamoshida's probably coming back with more guards. We have to get out of here and warn someone. That's what's most important."

"How can you say that?" Ryuji covered his face in his hands. "This is so messed up..."

We continued moving forward, passing by cells. Some of them were occupied by similar people to the one we saw in the cage: unconscious young men who looked like they had been beaten recently. We even came across one of them who was awake and groaning in pain, but he didn't respond to us making noise or waving in his direction. Not that we could have helped them, as their cells were locked tightly and we had no keys.

The drawbridge proved itself to be a problem. It had been raised, but the mechanism for lowering it was completely unclear. On our side, there was only a stone bust of Kamoshida, grinning cruelly at us and our predicament.

"Well," I said, tapping the ground with the knife. "Got any ideas?"

"I guess we could try shoving something heavy onto it," Ryuji said. "Maybe that barrel of wine from earlier?"

A sudden rattling drew our attention away from the bridge. "HEY! YOU TWO! OVER HERE!" a girlish voice called from one of the cells we hadn't looked at, past the drawbridge.

We rushed over to find a bizarre creature shaking the bars of its cell. It was a very short, cat like thing. It had a large, round head that was halfway taken up by large blue eyes that had a childlike innocence to them. It wore a tiny yellow scarf around its neck, and it seemed highly distressed. It honestly looked like the kind of thing I'd expect to be a mascot for selling baked goods, more than anything else.

"You guys are human, right?" the thing said. "You gotta get me out of here! Do you have a key?"

"No keys," I replied.

"Okay, how about something small and made out of metal?"

Ryuji started fishing through his pockets, before pulling out a paperclip. "Will this do?"

"Sure will!"

"Can we trust it, though?" I whispered to Ryuji.

"It looks harmless," Ryuji said. "If worst comes to worst, can't you just stab it with that knife or something? Plus, why would it be our enemy if it also got locked up here?"

"Just be careful, then."

Ryuji gave his paperclip to the cat thing, which immediately set to work bending and twisting it into a sort of zig-zagging shape. When it had finished messing with the paperclip, it jumped on top of the cell's padlock and began fiddling with the lock right away. The process couldn't help but look silly given how short the creature was, but it was clearly focused and experienced at lockpicking, for it had the door open in under a minute.

"Thanks for that," the creature said. "I thought I might end up being stuck here forever. The name's Morgana."

"I'm Ryuji, and this is Akira," Ryuji said. "You wouldn't happen to know a way out of here, would you?"

"I sure would! Follow me."

Morgana hopped right over to the drawbridge, before inspecting the bust of Kamoshida.

"We already looked at that thing," Ryuji said. "It's a bust."

"Oh really?" Morgana said, glaring at him. "You don't see anything suspicious at all here?"

"No."

"How about you, Akira?" Morgana tapped the bust with one hand. "You don't think there's anything strange about this little statue here?"

I put a hand on my chin. "Well, I don't think the hair matches up with the real thing..."

"Morons." Morgana reached up and pulled on the bust's jaw, which surprisingly relented, as if it were hinged to something. In response, both sides of the drawbridge creaked as they moved downwards, leaving the path forward clear.

"How did you figure that out?"

"Trust me, I'm an expert on this stuff. Let's go!"

The three of us hurried across the bridge. On the other side were more cells with weary prisoners, and a large wooden door that stood imposingly at the end of the hall.

"Can't you help break out these other guys, too?" Ryuji asked Morgana, gesturing to another conscious yet unobservant inmate sitting on a bed.

"There's nothing we can do for them," Morgana said. "Even if they could leave, they wouldn't."

"Seriously?!"

"Seriously. Keep moving."

We reached the tall wooden door, which I hesitantly opened, only to find another masked knight looking right at me. I slowly backed away, holding the knife in front of me with as much conviction as I could muster.

"Hey, genius!" Morgana said, leaping to my side. "That's not how you fight a shadow."

"So what should I do?!"

"Step back, watch, and learn."

None of my gut instincts said that leaving a fight to a tiny, unarmed cat-creature was a good idea, but Morgana seemed to know a lot more about what was going on then we did, so I decided to trust him.

"ZORRO!" Morgana shouted as best as could be managed with his tiny lungs. "Show them we mean business!"

A patch of blue flame in the air gave way to a large, top heavy human-like figure, who struck a pose with a cutlass.

"She's got one of those things too?" Ryuji muttered.

"And he didn't even have to put on ridiculous clothes for it," I added.

The knight approached Zorro and underwent a similar transformation to the previous ones, shaking and twitching before breaking down into a black ooze, which reformed itself into a leathery, pink imp. Morgana wasn't fazed by any of it.

"GARU!"

Zorro swung one arm, and a huge blast of air slammed the imp against a wall. Before it could get up, Morgana had taken the cutlass and stabbed it through the chest, whereupon it disintegrated into ashes.

"Jeez," Ryuji said, putting one hand on his forehead. "All that from something so tiny..."

"That was impressive." I couldn't help but feel a little jealous; the cat had made the entire scene I had before with Kamoshida look amateurish.

"Aheh," Morgana laughed nervously. "Well, it's easier when it's one on one, instead of five or six of them coming at you from behind. Let's keep going."

Behind the door was a spiral staircase going up. Oh, did it ever feel good to be climbing stairs for once! Anything to get away from that dark and horrid place where I had come so close to dying so very quickly. It was all I could manage to not sprint like a madman up and up, as fast as my feet could go. There was still no telling what was waiting for us up above, after all.

The stairs led to a short, unoccupied hallway with a similar black and white tiled floor to the one that been in the place's entrance. An encouraging sign.

"This way," Morgana said, hopping over to one of the doors. He opened it slowly and peeked his head around the corner, before looking back at us.

"Not good. Looks like the main hall's on alert because of some earlier commotion."

"Does that mean the exit's right there?" I asked.

"Won't do you any good if the shadows spot you. We'll have to do this stealthily."

I took a short glance past the door. We had indeed reached the same hall that we came in through, but the clanking of armored guards tromping back and forth was omnipresent. "There isn't enough darkness for us to hide out there, from the looks of things."

"Definitely." Morgana quietly closed the door and turned to face both of us. "That's why one of us will have to create a distraction first."

"Oh, yeah." Ryuji snorted. "' _Create a distraction_ '. What a great plan. That definitely isn't the kind of thing that leads to someone getting caught."

"That's why I wasn't planning to leave that task to you amateurs." Morgana grinned. "You guys just wait here. I'll sneak upstairs, cause a scene, and get the shadows out of your hair. After that, I'll find my own way out. I know this place much better than you, after all."

"Really? Then how'd you get caught in the first place?"

"That was a one time fluke. It won't happen again. Promise you."

"Thanks for helping us, Morgana," I said. "You're braver than I am." I felt like I should shake his hand, but the enormous height difference between us would have made it very awkward.

Morgana scratched behind one of his ears. "Aw, shucks. Well, I owe you guys one for helping me get out of that cell. Don't worry about me, anyway. I'll probably run into you guys later, once this is over."

With that, Morgana bounded over to another door, and slipped away.

"I really hope that crazy cat doesn't get himself killed," I said.

"I just hope she manages to get us out of here alive," Ryuji muttered.

"I think he's a... guy cat, as well."

"How would you know for sure? Are you an expert on cat... things?"

"Good point."

"Plus Morgana is a girl's name..."

We sat hunched up against the door, with it being only slightly opened, waiting for Morgana to make his (her?) move. For a while, we heard nothing but the continuing creaks of the knights moving around, and faint whispers of the river below. Then came the sound of what appeared to be a vase shattering, and all the knights went momentarily still, before all moving at once in a direction away from us.

"Think it worked?" Ryuji whispered, once the sounds of the knights had grown too distant to hear.

I opened the door further and edged around the corner. I couldn't see any hints of armor. "Looks like it. Let's run for it."

We both sprinted right for the gate, not daring to check if anything was following us. Nothing blocked our path as we kept barreling on forward, out of the castle and down the skinny alley that took us out on the street. The blessed, perfectly normal Tokyo street that was now being bathed in afternoon sunlight. We had made it out alive.

"I can't believe we actually got out of there, man," Ryuji said, wheezing and putting his hands on his knees. "Too effing close."

I nodded, trying to catch my breath. The silly getup I had been wearing in the castle had disappeared in place of the uniform I had put on in the morning. Things were looking up. "There should be... cops here, though."

"Cops? Why?"

"Because of the castle! I mean, there should have been some students who didn't just walk in there, right? Or maybe-"

"What's going on here?"

Speaking of the devil - two cops had been on the street and were walking up to us.

"You two look like Shujin students," one cop said. "You wouldn't happen to be cutting classes, now would you?"

"We aren't," I said hastily. "We just - got lost. Could you show us the way there?"

"Hmph. Follow me, then."

One cop continued towards the alleyways we had just left, while the other turned back to the street.

"Dude," Ryuji muttered, elbowing me in the side. "Why didn't you mention the frickin' castle to him?"

"He might not believe it until he sees it," I murmured back. "This is strange, though..."

I obediently followed the cop as he took us through the alleys once more, to where the normal concrete facade of Shujin academy stood, stubborn and unyielding. The lights were on, banners had been hung from the roof, faces were visible from the windows, and the whole place looked functional and lived in. There was no strange purple glow from the sky, no castle, no sudden swings in temperature. It was all perfectly normal. I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach.

"Here it is," the cop said. "Shujin Academy."

"Thank you, officer."

"Stay out of trouble." He left us standing there, dumbstruck.

"This is some bullshit," Ryuji said. "We came here the same way, right? So why is the school here now?"

I sighed, knowing what the likely answer was, even though I hated to admit it. "Maybe we just... hallucinated everything that happened in the morning."

"No way, man! How the hell would that work?"

"It's the only explanation that makes sense. How else would you explain there being a castle here in the morning and not in the afternoon?"

"How would you explain us tripping out for so many hours while walking in an alleyway?!"

"Gas leak." I hefted my bag on my should and walked up the steps to the doors. "See you."

"Hey, wait-"

I didn't look back as I opened the door and walked inside the school. Ryuji wasn't important now; I had to focus on mitigating the damage from showing up late on the first day as much as possible. An older teacher was standing right by the entrance, who I quickly approached for advice.

"Excuse me, sir," I said. "I got lost on the way here and ended up late. Is there someone I should talk to about today's schedule?"

The teacher adjusted his glasses while narrowing his eyes at me. "You wouldn't happen to be that transfer student I've been hearing so much about, would you?"

"I don't know, sir."

"Hmph. Showing up this late, on your first day, even! Is this how you show gratitude to a place willing to give you a second chance? You'll be nothing but trouble in the future. Well, right now, you should go up to the faculty office, on the second floor. Ms Kawakami should be there now. She'll know where you're supposed to be today."

"Thank you, sir." I turned and hurried over to the stairs, trying my best to strike a balance between walking and running that didn't look too desperate. The location of the faculty office wasn't something I had memorized from yesterday, but it turned out to be easy enough to find. The room itself was jam packed with tables, boxes, drawers, shelves, and books, leaving little room for the few adults who were busying themselves with papers and coffee. One of those adults was a woman with messy, shoulder length hair and a stony face that seemed like it would always mean business. What little joviality there might have been there evaporated as soon as she noticed me walk in.

"Kurusu? Is that you?" she asked, turning her chair to face me.

"It is, ma'am," I said.

"Mind explaining why you're half a day late?"

I bit my tongue. "I got lost."

The teacher sighed, and started tapping one foot against the floor. "Look, I know you're new to the area, but getting lost for that long is unacceptable. You know the position you're in, right? You have to do better than this."

She was absolutely right, of course. Why couldn't I do better? What was wrong with me? "I know. I'm sorry."

"I hope you're being honest." She took a sip of coffee while glancing at a sheet of paper on her desk. "Anyways, I'm Ms Kawakami. Fifth period will be starting soon, and we're having classes after that canceled because of the recent subway accident. I'll have you introduce yourself there. Follow me."

She led me to one of the classrooms, which was nearly filled to the brim with bored looking students idly chatting or scribbling away on paper. Many of them perked up upon seeing me walk in, and the volume of murmured conversations increased noticeably.

"Do you think that's him?"

"Being so late on his first day..."

"...insane, gotta be..."

"Settle down," Kawakami said. "As it stands, I would like to introduce a new transfer student to our school, Akira Kurusu. He attended late today due to an... illness. Kurusu, please greet the class."

I walked towards the center of the room. "Hello. My name is Akira Kurusu. Nice to meet you all." It was a perfectly fine introduction, but not one that would make up for being so late.

"Alright," Kawakami said. "I guess you'll sit... hmm, over there." She pointed to the one empty desk, sitting forlornly in the back corner of the room. "Also, if some of you would be willing to share your textbooks with him for today, that would be great."

A collective groan of discontent rippled through the class as I made my way over to the desk. On the way there, the student in front of me caught my eye, as she seemed very angry about something, giving a frustrated snort as I passed her. Once I sat down, my focus quickly shifted to the whispered words and furtive glances the students were giving each other while looking at me. I could only wonder how much gossip about me would spread before the day ended.

"Now, the volleyball rally will be in two days, as I mentioned before," Kawakami continued. "Anyway, let's get class started..."

For the rest of the hour, I gritted my teeth and tried my best to be the honest student I wanted to be. I told myself over and over again not to focus on what the other students were saying, not to focus on how I had screwed up _again_ , to only pay attention to what the teacher said and to take notes. Even with only one class to go, time was passing arduously slow rate. My eyes kept drifting to the clock, and I kept fighting the urge to kick something like a brick wall until my feet were swollen. When the school tones finally came to free the students, I was convinced that my life in Tokyo was doomed to failure. I grabbed my stuff in a hurry and tried to leave, but Kawakami motioned for me to talk to her, so I crept over to the front of the room instead.

"It seems like the other students here have caught wind of your history, and more importantly, criminal record," Ms Kawakami said once the other students had left. "I'm not the one who told them, but it's still something you'll have to deal with."

"Oh," I said. _Oh, that's just the cherry on top of this shit sundae._

"Anyways, you should be heading home after this. We had someone call your guardian regarding your earlier absence, and he wasn't pleased."

 _And there's another cherry._ "I will, ma'am."

"Good."

I stood there for a moment before forcibly grabbing my bag and leaving the classroom. I couldn't stand to be in the school any longer; it felt like the entire building was pressing down on me from all directions. I had to leave, had to go anywhere else but there. And kick something.

"Hey-"

Ryuji was trying to approach me, but he stopped when I held up one hand.

"I want to talk," Ryuji said. "About what happened this morning."

"I don't."

I resumed my walk towards the exit.

"Fine, be that way!"

The journey back to Leblanc was a blur of indistinct shapes and sounds. During it all I was smoldering with anger that kept my fists clenched and my teeth sore. Most of it was directed at myself. I had promised my parents that I would do a better job, and I had gone and messed everything up on the first day of classes. What would they think once they found out? What was Mr Sakura thinking? Why had all of this happened? Why me? Why, why, why...

Mr Sakura did not look happy when I opened the door to the cafe. Not at all.

"I got an interesting call from your school today," he said, "Something about you showing up hours late, even though I saw you leave right on time this morning. What happened?"

I doubted he would believe the story of me getting lost. Not when he had already taken me to the school beforehand. "I messed up." I hung my head in shame. "I'm sorry."

Sakura sighed wearily, and rested his arms on the counter. "I don't understand. You were so obsessed with getting things right before today. What could have happened that caused you to just... give up like that?"

I said nothing.

"Well, it would be wise for you to remember that you're on probation. I'll have to add this to my report on your behavior. This had better not become a habit, understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"Hmph. I don't think I'll ever understand young people..."

I took that as my cue to leave, and scurried up into the attic. Now I could have some moments of solitude. I could punch one of the tables until I bled. Or drag my hand along a wooden plank until it was covered in splinters. Or I could start crying. They all felt like good options at that moment.

I decided to settle for rolling haphazardly onto my bed and gripping my pillow like I was going to rip it into shreds. I let some of my fingers curl down and dig into my palms as well. The pain felt rewarding, as a kind of punishment for _not getting to school on time what the hell were you doing you idiot?!_ All my thoughts about the bizarre events of the morning had faded away. It had clearly been a dream, or something similar. What was real was the fact that I hadn't done my job. I had let everyone down again.

Oh, that would be fun. Telling my parents about how I managed to screw up on the very first day. I pulled out my phone and scowled when I saw the swirling red eye staring at me. That made me want to throw the damn thing against a wall, but I settled for deleting the stupid app.

 _Should I tell them right now? They'll be even angrier if they find out later that I was hiding this from them, but... I don't want to deal with this right now._

I spread out my arms and took in a deep breath. This was all so infuriating. Why did I have to be so damn pathetic? Why did I have to imagine I was in some stupid castle for the entire morning? Why did the entire school have to find out that I had a criminal record?

So many questions. All of them just made me hate myself even more. Made me want to desperately want to rewind time back to the morning so I could do things right. Or go back even earlier so I never had to go all the way to Tokyo to begin with. To not have to live with all the horrible mistakes I had made in the past year. If only I could leave them behind. If only...


	4. Groundwork

_"So you're saying you discovered this... other world completely by chance?"_

 _"Pretty much."_

 _"And you were led out by a talking cat thing?"_

 _"Ab-so-lutely."_

 _"Forgive me for thinking that you haven't fully recovered from the drugs yet. Or that you're just feeding me bullshit to stall for time."_

 _"You know we did some pretty insane things. You should have expected some amount of crazy to explain them."_

 _"That's beside the point. Now, I want to know why you specifically targeted this man, despite having no prior connection to him."_

* * *

If yesterday had been an anxious cocktail of hope and nervousness, today was a dirty glass of gray acceptance and frustration. The weather certainly fit the mood. The sky was completely overcast, and it was raining heavily. It wasn't the good kind of rain either, that would quickly come and go on a hot summer's day to cool everything down. No, it was the abominable late spring rain that chilled one to the bone and made it seem like winter had decided to return early. At least it had the courtesy to arrive early today, instead of five minutes after I had left the cafe.

The routine for the morning was the same as it had been before. Hurriedly getting dressed, gulping down curry for breakfast, and rushing out the door in the precious few minutes my schedule allowed for. Mr Sakura had looked displeased when he saw me leaving, but hadn't said anything. The look in his eyes said more than enough, anyway. Then there was the cramped subway ride, worsened by the weather, the rushing through stations to transfer lines, and the walking among crowds of students in the rain to reach the school. The blessedly normal, non castle-like school. The school that was filled with people who feared and hated me because someone had publicly spilled the beans of my recent past.

The man I immediately suspected as the culprit was my social studies teacher, Mr Ushimaru, who had been the older male teacher I ran into the day before. He had made his distaste for me quite clear then, and hadn't changed his attitude at all since then. Not one bit.

"Now then," Mr Ushimaru said, as his class began. "As I went over yesterday, we'll be studying ancient philosophers and how their teachings related to society at large. Those who were present yesterday should have gone over Plato's description of the human soul."

There was a general sound of shuffling as the other students pulled out notes that I didn't have.

"Hey, new kid." Ushimaru pointed to me. "Why don't you tell us what Plato said the human soul was comprised of?"

"I don't know, sir."

"Of course you don't. You see, several ancient Greek philosophers believed that evil wasn't inherent, and was born from ignorance. A better view than thinking that evil arises from individual traits. People who believe that are exactly the kinds of scum that end up on the streets or in prisons. Learning is the key to escaping ignorance, and all the trappings that come with it. Are you writing this down?"

The looks in my direction had started again, as I picked up a pen and began writing. At least it helped a little to have had a day to process the fact that my entire stay at Shujin would be like this.

"Now, I'd like to discuss Socrates as well..."

That second day felt like it would never end. Perhaps due to it being the first day I went to all my classes, resulting in that much more new information to process. It could have been the weather as well, which was absolutely miserable to look at. There wasn't a hint of sunlight all throughout the day. Just more gray and more rain. At least the few trees in the area would be happy.

"... and we'll be going over the assignment tomorrow. Any questions? No? Then you're free to go."

Still, it wouldn't do me any good to be focusing on the negatives. No, it was best just to focus. Study hard, keep my head down, and get into a good college. That was my plan, and I was going to stick to it.

"Hey! Frizzy hair!"

That voice, however, complicated things.

"Yeah, you! Over here!"

There, sitting attently in one of the stubby bushes at the edge of the school, was a black and white cat with bright blue, innocent eyes. A cat with a girlish voice that could speak like a human. A girlish, familiar voice.

I glanced around, wondering if I was going crazy. But no, there were other students glancing at the cat as well. Not acknowledging that it was talking, sure, but they knew it was _there_. Which meant I was only half crazy, at the least.

"What are you just staring at me for? You can understand me, right?"

I took a series of slow steps towards the cat, feeling hazy.

"You feeling alright, frizzy hair?"

"My name's Akira," I mumbled, trying not to look like an insane person who talked to cats all day.

"I thought 'frizzy hair' would get your attention better," Morgana said. "Was I right?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I told you guys I'd run into you after I escaped, remember? And I bet you're looking for an explanation about what happened yesterday, right?"

I scratched my head. "I don't know."

Morgana cocked his head to the side. "What? You're not even the slightest bit curious?"

"I don't know if I want to know or if this isn't some pit that I'm going to get sucked into and I'd just be better avoiding... I don't know."

"You lost me there, chief."

"Hey, I wanted-"

I looked up and saw Ryuji running towards us. When he caught sight of Morgana, he nearly tripped, skipping forward on one foot.

"Woah," Ryuji said. "Is that who I think it is?"

"You bet," Morgana said, scratching behind one ear.

"So yesterday wasn't a dream! I knew it!"

"You thought that was a dream? You guys must be really naive."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a stern looking teacher glaring at Morgana, armed with a broom.

"We should probably talk somewhere less crowded," I said, gesturing at the teacher.

The three of us ventured off into one of the many side alleys worming its way through stubby concrete buildings, stopping at a convenient dead end near a depressed looking fern.

"As I was saying before," Morgana continued, "You guys must be curious about that castle, right?"

"And Kamoshida," Ryuji said. "Or that strange version of him we saw."

"I can tell you guys all about that and more. First, though, I'd like to hear about how you two ended up there."

"Not much to tell. We were just walking to Shujin and found a castle in its place. We walked in, got captured, and Kamoshida was going to execute us if Akira here didn't manage to summon a demon at the last minute and bust us out."

"Really? That's strange. Although I think it would explain the silly outfit Akira was wearing."

"Oh?" At this point, my life was starting to feel like it revolved around silly outfits.

"I guess I should start from the beginning." Morgana leaped up on top of the fern and brushed the droopy leaves aside. "The castle and all of its normal residents don't exist in the real world. Rather, they live in a place called the Metaverse, which is a reflection of both the real world and humans' desire. Particularly strong desires can warp the Metaverse to the point where it entirely resembles those desires instead of the locations its based on. I call places where this occurs 'palaces'. That castle is one such palace. Kamoshida, a man with strongly warped desires, distorted this school of yours in the Metaverse to a place that reflected his heart. He saw the school as a castle, himself as the king, and the students as his slaves - at least from what I was able to gather before I got caught."

"You're sayin' all the slaves in that castle are students here?!" Ryuji crossed his arms. "Then we should have tried to rescue them!"

"Ease up, blondie. Those slaves you saw in the castle were also just reflections of reality. They show you how Kamoshida thinks of them, but they aren't real humans themselves. The Kamoshida there isn't the real one, either. It's a manifestation of his innermost thoughts and desires."

"It's a reflection of reality that Kamoshida hangs up students in cages?" I frowned. "From what I've seen of him, he hasn't been that abhorrent."

"Dude," Ryuji said, a dark look on his face. "You don't know him. Trust me."

"I'll admit I'm not familiar with what Kamoshida has been up to in reality," Morgana said. "For the time being, I've been more interested in investigating the Metaverse itself. After I ran into you two, I was hoping you could help me with that."

I folded my arms against my chest. "Really? How so?"

"That involves the other side of the Metaverse I haven't told you about. When normal humans find their way into it, they start off defenseless against the shadows inside it. Those who harbor a spirit of rebellion inside them, however, can fight back against the distortions by channeling that spirit through a persona. Mine's Zorro, as you saw. And this 'demon' Akira summoned would be his persona, as well."

"What about me?" Ryuji asked.

"You found your way into the Metaverse just like he did. I doubt that was a coincidence." Morgana stretched and shook his head. "Anyways. Point is, I was hoping you two would be willing to help me look into what might be causing these distortions. Strange things have been going on in the real world, and I think it's also the key to my past."

"Your past?"

"Yeah." A mild tone of wistfulness crept into Morgana's voice. "There are a lot of things I should be able to remember, but can't. Like how I was born. I'm certain I used to be a human at some point, since I can speak, but I was somehow transformed into a cat at some point. I am convinced it has something to due with the Metaverse, however, since there are things about it that I can clearly remember."

"I guess that makes sense?"

"What would helping you actually entail, though?" I said.

"Well," Morgana said, backing up just a little. "If you could help me investigate palaces, and this other place-"

"Are you not thinking about how dangerous this is? The last time we went into a 'palace', we almost died!" Seeing Morgana cringe at my anger, I took in a deep breath and tried to steady myself. "Look, I'm grateful that you saved us yesterday, Morgana, but what you're asking for is crazy. This whole otherwordly stuff isn't something I want to be involved with. I have my own shit to deal with."

"Hey," Ryuji said. "I can understand bailing on the cat, but what about Kamoshida? You saw the shit he was doing there. How can you just walk away from that?"

"It's not my problem. And besides, he wasn't doing that in reality. Whatever he is doing here can't be that bad."

Ryuji shifted forward. "You don't know Kamoshida-"

"So what? Even if we do find out he's been torturing students, then what are we going to do about it? No one's going to take our word on him seriously." I shook my head and turned away. "Look, I'm walking on thin ice as it is. I can't afford to stick my neck out any further. Sorry."

"You're a real asshole, you know that?"

I kept quiet and walked out of the alley. Let my hands curl into fists and dug my nails into my palms. The growing sounds of cars and footsteps as I approached the road was a welcome distraction. Made it easier not to be frustrated. I could just focus on avoiding the puddles on the sidewalk, and the other people on the street. The water on the street was in a constant flux, briefly showing the still cloudy sky in constantly disturbed reflections. A brief flash of red passed by, before vanishing as a car rolled over it.

Some faces were visible from the windows of shops. Others were fogged up, or still wet from leftover rain dripping slowly down from the roofs above them. One that caught my eye was highly reflective, giving a clear view of the road beside it. Vehicles crawling by, caught in the afternoon traffic, crows flying around, a faint rainbow glistening in the distance, and the leering face of a red devil-creature sitting across the street. A creature who didn't appear when I looked across the road to where he should have been sitting.

"Hello," Arsene said, waving one arm lazily at me.

I paused for a moment, before veering to the side and into another alleyway.

"Where are you going?"

The particular path I had chosen was quite wet. Each step I took resulted in water being splashed everywhere, getting my socks all wet. The image of Arsene, hovering above me, was repeatedly broken up as I waded through it.

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

I stopped at a fork in the alley. Someone had thrown a broken glass bottle on the ground, and inside the shards I could see many warped pieces of Arsene's face, all looking directly at me.

"You seem like you're afraid of something," Arsene said, tipping his hat.

 _Why are you here? What do you want?_

"Do you think I'm here because of my own concerns? Or that they would be wholly separated from yours? Interesting. But also wrong."

 _What?_

The Arsene reflected in the bottle flew away, before reappearing in a second story window, looking down at me.

"You're here because you made a decision. A very important decision. Yet you haven't fully grasped the relevance of it. That is why you've been left feeling doubtful."

 _Doubtful?_

"You know there is more to the story of Kamoshida and the castle then you currently know of. But you chose to avoid learning more about it. You feared making a similar decision to the one that brought you here, and decided to take the path of least resistance. To rescind the possibility of changing things."

In another window, a scene started to play out. A flickering streetlamp at night showed two figures struggling. A bystander, noticing the commotion, approached them with haste.

 _So? Are you trying to sell me on this... plan of Morgana's as well? Or whatever the hell Ryuji was thinking of doing?_

The scene changed, showing occupied stretchers being moved outside of a subway station, next to a number of ambulances.

"I have no intentions of trying to sell you anything. You and I already know the stakes of this game, and I have no interest in trying to coddle you. I came here instead to offer you an ultimatum."

The image changed again, now showing the silhouette of a figure with a long nose seated at a desk, drumming their fingers expectantly.

"If you truly desire to escape this, to return to your expectations of reality where you are powerless, then I will not stop you. In fact, I will aid you in this task. I will take from you the ability to enter and resist the other world, so that you can truly claim that it is beyond your ability to influence when it influences your own world in turn. If you walk away from the castle today, it will be the last day you see it. It will be the last time you will see me, as well. You can walk forward with your head down for as long as you wish."

Now a picture of Kamoshida showed up, dressed in the half royal garb he had been wearing in the castle. He was grinning maniacally, and blood was dripping from his mouth.

"But there is another option. You can return to the others you just left behind. You can investigate further into crimes left unnoticed. You can decide if you want to try and change things for the better. To see the world as it truly is. It is a path wrought with danger, and success will not be guaranteed. But it will give you agency, instead of leaving you at the mercy of forces beyond your control. If you truly value the spirit of rebellion inside you, you will take this path."

The image in the window dissolved away, and Arsene spread his wings. "I have laid your options bare before you. Whatever choice you decide on, you cannot claim to have been deceived in making it. Goodbye."

 _Hey, wait!_

Arsene paid me no heed, and vanished.

I stood there for a little while, staring at the now empty window, with my hands in my pockets. And then decided to head back towards Shujin.

If I had wanted to make my decision seem admirable, I would have said that I went back because I had decided then to fully commit to the idea of being a heroic rebel, as Arsene had said. In truth, though, that wasn't really what was on my mind. I was more worried about what he said about the other world being closed off to me entirely if I were to leave. Even though the 'Metaverse' had caused me nothing but trouble since I had stumbled upon it, it still wasn't something I wanted to abandon entirely. The existence of such a place had to be of some purpose or use, although what it might be I couldn't guess.

When I got close to Shujin, I instinctively turned in one of the alleyways that I used to get to the school. There, I saw briefly Morgana and Ryuji walking forward, before they faded away into the air.

"What the...?"

And then I wanted to smack myself. I had never actually figured out how to get to the Metaverse, after all. Morgana probably knew how, but he had plenty of time to leave with Ryuji while I had been gone. Now, I was stuck.

"What to do, what to do..."

I decided to start by retracing the steps I had taken yesterday morning. I walked back to the street outside and looked for the store I had sheltered under the rain from. Unfortunately, I found the specific details of that place impossible to recall; my memories were too focused on how I had meet both Kamoshida and Ryuji at the time. I settled for staying under several shops for a few seconds each before turning back and going through what I hoped was the same alley as before. When I got to the end of it, I saw Shujin, stiff and blocky as always.

"Okay. Arsene, are you there? I could use some help with this."

Arsene, if he was listening, didn't reply.

"Alright." I started pacing back and forth. "Maybe it was something I said? Hmm... Kamoshida? Castle? Metaverse? Morgana? Shujin? Persona?"

Nothing happened.

"Ugh. There has to be _something_ I'm missing."

My mind flickered to the strange app that had turned itself on in the castle. I pulled out my phone, only realizing halfway through getting to the main menu that I had deleted it already. And yet, as the list of apps showed up on the screen, the red swirling eye was prominently present among them. Pressing it caused the image to take up most of the screen, as before, but this time it also displayed a column to the side, which had one slot that was red while the rest were gray. Tapping the gray slots did nothing, while the red slot brought up a snippet of information and a button when it was pressed.

 **SUGURU KAMOSHIDA - DESIGNATION: PERVERT**

 **SHUJIN ACADEMY - DESIGNATION: CASTLE**

 **BEGIN NAVIGATION?**

 **YES / NO**

It was almost certainly against my better judgment, but I pressed the yes button right away. The afternoon's events had left me anxious and impatient, and I was worried that this opportunity was the last one I'd ever have.

As soon as I touched it, the world began to wobble and distort, with sections of it burning and blurring together. It reminded me of a photograph developing, somehow. The image got more and more purple until it began to solidify, and I was looking at the same purplish sky above the same stone castle from the previous morning. Glancing down showed me that the silly outfit from before had also returned, replacing my uniform.

Looking around the courtyard, I couldn't see Ryuji or Morgana anywhere. The castle's gate had been closed, and the walls looked far too smooth to be scalable, but I saw one open, square shaped window that I could and squeeze myself through with a bit of effort.

Scrabbling through the window left me in a small, well furnished room lined with bookshelves. A quick glance at the titles produced showed them to be all about the topics of Kamoshida, volleyball, and pick up artistry; quite an odd collection for a castle to have. I was tempted to read one, just for the novelty, but I shook my head and reminded myself why I had come here to begin with. And that there was no time for such dawdling.

I slowly opened the room's door and peered outside, ready to run if one of those knights spotted me. To my immediate relief and later suspicion, I saw that the hallway outside was completely empty and devoid of any sounds of clanking metal. I double checked that the coast was clear before hunching down and taking a few steps outside. Nothing jumped me as I did so, leaving the issue of where to go as the most pressing one.

"If I was Ryuji, where would I go?"

Thinking back to how he had acted before, going for the prison where the slaves had been kept seemed like the safest bet, given how concerned Ryuji had been with them before. Of course, if Morgana had been the one to lead them, then I couldn't guess at where they might have went. I tried not to focus on that detail as I crept around the hallway, looking for a way to get to the castle's main hall. The second door led me to another hallway that was very similar to the one I had waited in while Morgana broke a vase. And surely enough, one door led to the same stairs heading down into that dark, damp prison.

Feeling remarkably alone and ill equipped to venture further, I decided to try asking Arsene for help again.

"Arsene?"

The demon - no, persona - appeared before me in his signature flash of blue fire, knife in hand.

"So you decided to heed my words after all," Arsene said. "But your intentions are hardly noble. Interesting."

I gulped. "This place is dangerous. Could you help-"

Arsene threw his knife down on the floor. "This should be all you need for now. Talk to me again if you happen to learn anything from this misadventure."

"Thanks, but-"

Arsene vanished again. I sighed, picked up the knife, and continued downwards.

The prison hadn't changed at all from when I had last seen it. The slaves were still sitting limply or lying unconscious in their cells, and the drawbridge spanning the torrential river below was still lowered. I looked around and still didn't see Ryuji or Morgana anywhere, so I crossed over to the other side of the room, gripping the knife tightly.

Beyond the room with the drawbridge, I saw that part of the prison where I had been kept before had been lit up more. Rows of blazing torches revealed a rectangular stretch of filthy, moss covered stone stone mixed with strips of rusty metal grating covering a black abyss. Past the numerous cells was a large pair of metal doors, guarded by two of the masked knights. As I got closer to them, I noticed two additional details: a banner above the door labeling it as 'Kamoshida's Love Hall of Training', and two figures crouching in the shadows near it. One larger, one shorter and catlike.

Morgana noticed me shortly thereafter. "Oh - it's you!" he squeaked, before visibly cringing at the amount of noise he made. "Hurry! Over here!"

Thankfully, the knights didn't notice anything as I scuttled past them, away from light.

"So you came back?" Ryuji asked, keeping a neutral expression.

"Yeah," I said.

"Why'd you change your mind?"

"Look. I'm not saying that I'm totally on board with whatever crazy shit you were planning. I'm not some kind of hero, or anything like that. I think this all completely nuts, but... I just think it's worth investigating further. That's why I came back here."

"Tch. Figures, that you'd say something like that."

"Hey, don't badmouth him too much," Morgana said. "He can still help us out here. I mean, you can summon a persona, right?"

"I'm not sure." I scratched my head. "He appeared when I called his name a little while ago, but he didn't seem that interested in helping me out..."

"That's strange. Well, you still have that knife, so you can make yourself useful."

"Can't say I like the sound of that."

Morgana frowned. "We just have to get past those two shadows over by the door, alright? I'll attack them first."

"Shadows? You mean the knights, right?"

"They won't look like knights for long. Let's go!"

"Hey, wait-"

Morgana sprung out of the shadows, while Zorro appeared at his side. I begrudgingly walked beside him and held my knife steady as the knights predictably transformed into more otherwordly creatures; in this case, two horse-like things with six legs, whose mouths were drooling and foaming copiously. As I stood my ground in front of them, I couldn't help but feel this was a very stupid idea.

"They're probably going to rush us," Morgana said, catching Zorro's cutlass as it was thrown at him. "I'll try to knock one of them off its feet when that happens."

" _One_ of them?"

The horse creatures slowly circled us, undoubtedly looking for some kind of opening. When they didn't find one, they stopped for a moment before baying and charging at us. Morgana, true to his word, knocked down one of them with a blast of wind, leaving the one running at me completely unhindered.

I tried to slash at it with the knife, but the weapon clearly wasn't suited for dealing with horses, as I could only reach the thing when it was already too close to me. I managed to tear a gash in its side, but it cleanly retaliated by slamming me to the ground with one of its legs.

"Argh!"

I landed on my lower back and immediately regretted every choice I had made that led up to this moment. The parts of me that hit the ground were screaming, while the part of my chest that had been kicked was screaming louder. I dropped the knife unceremoniously on the ground. Not that it would have done me much good, as the horse demon was advancing upon me again, and the best I could manage while sitting would be to nip at its legs.

Fortunately, Morgana was there to rescue me, hitting the horse beast with another blast of wind before it could strike me again. The beast stumbled and staggered to the side; a third attack put it on the ground, whereupon Morgana ran over and skewered it. The dying creature writhed a few times before disintegrating.

"Are you alright?" Morgana asked, putting down his sword and running over to me.

"Not at all," I muttered. "This was a dumb idea. I want to go back..."

"I can help you! Just stay still for a second. Dia!"

For a moment, the pain I was feeling flared up into something even worse. After the moment passed, it began to slowly recede, leaving what felt like heat in its wake. I stood up, and while I still felt a little shaky and sore, it was nothing like how I had felt just a minute ago.

"What did you do?" I asked, straightening my clothes out.

"I had my persona heal you," Morgana said. "You should be fine now."

"It can do that? Crazy."

Ryuji walked over to us, looking sheepish. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to help you guys out there," he said. "I knew I shoulda brought some kinda weapon. I will next time, for sure."

"I'd prefer if we just avoided fighting those things in the future," I said. "Why did you want to go to this room, anyway?"

"Morgana says this is where some of the slaves get taken, to be tortured. My plan was to take pictures of their faces, so we would know what students in the real world are being hurt."

"I doubt that the students in the real world are being tortured like these ones are."

"Oh, you'd be surprised." Ryuji stepped over to the door, and slowly opened it, causing it to creak loudly.

The sight of what was beyond wasn't pretty. The floor there was stained with blood pooling in the gaps in the stone; some of it old, some of it fresh. There were sounds. Groans of pain and screams that we somehow hadn't been hearing when the door was closed. Instead of being covered by darkness that was habitual to the rest of the prison, the room was painfully bright, lit by things that were impossible to look at in the corners. It was possible to catch glimpses of what was being done to the slaves. There was fire. There was sharpened bits of metal. I didn't want to look any further.

"Any knights?" I asked.

"Shadows," Morgana said. "There are some, but they're all busy managing the slaves. Hopefully they won't attack us if we just take pictures at a distance and leave."

Ryuji took out his phone, and walked past the door. He then paused, looking back at me.

"Aren't you coming?" he asked.

"I'll watch this end for... shadows," I said. _And hopefully keep in my lunch._

I waited as Ryuji and Morgana went inside the room to take pictures. They took quite a while.

"This is bullshit," Ryuji grumbled as they left the hall. "Kamoshida, thinking he can just do this to people... we'll make him pay."

"Uh, sure," I said. "Is there anything else important we were looking for here? If not, can we bail?"

"Well, I would have preferred to spend some more time looking upstairs," Morgana said, glancing around. "But the general lack of shadows thus far has been suspicious. So, yeah, let's bail."

I took that as a cue to start running back the way we had came. Which was still perfectly knight free, even though common sense dictated that there should have been more guards on patrol after a successful breakout occurred. Oh yes, that was troubling.

Still, we managed to make it back up the stairs before we learned just how troubling it was.

Waiting for us at the top were six knights, one clad in golden armor instead of the usual silver, and the distorted Kamoshida from yesterday.

"How kind of you to join us," Kamoshida said. "Not that I would have expected to find trash like you anywhere else."

We tried to turn back, but the golden knight snapped his fingers, and a wall of spears shot up from the ground behind us.

"So the delinquent returns, after putting on such a poor show for the staff just a day ago. And really, I would have expected you to have learned something from our last scuffle, Sakamoto. My, my, how our star track team runner has fallen."

"Shut up!" Ryuji growled. "You think you can keep on playing your sick games on us?! We're gonna get dirt on you, and then you'll be sorry!"

"Are you two listening to this?" Kamoshida asked. "Your friend here tried to play his own 'game' on me once before, and look where that got him. I bet he was the one who dragged you into this as well? Scum like him do nothing but drag others down in their death throes. As you all are about to find out."

The five silver knights stepped forwards in unison, transforming into enormous, dark wildebeest-like things with burning red eyes.

"Arsene?" I said, my voice quivering. "You there? Now would be a good time."

If he was there, he didn't show himself.

I took a step backward. "Morgana? Got any plans?"

"N-no," Morgana said.

"Damnit! I don't wanna die-"

But the wildebeests certainly didn't care about that. In the tight corridor we were stuck in, there was no room to maneuver. Morgana tried to fend them off with another blast of wind, but it was hopeless. They barreled ahead, knocking us down to the floor and pinning us their with their hooves. Ryuji watched from behind us, horrified.

"Such is the fate of all who oppose the rightful king of this place," Kamoshida said, theatrically walking forward. "Not that any of you learned your lesson before. Hmph."

"Stop it, Kamoshida," Ryuji said.

"And the trash still talks. Even as he hides behind his _friends_ , not daring to fight on his own, he makes them worse off. This is exactly the kind of behavior that made you an outcast to begin with. Such behavior should be punished, don't you think? Maybe it's time I broke your other leg."

"Ryuji?" Morgana wheezed.

In response, the wildebeest holding him down pressed harder, making him cry out in pain.

"Coward," Kamoshida sneered. "Why don't you own up to your responsibilities once in your life? Admit to your own failings? I'll give you one last chance. Submit to me now, and I'll make your deaths quick instead of torturous."

* * *

And in that moment, a voice spoke to Ryuji.

"He isn't wrong, you know. You did drag the others into this, despite knowing it was dangerous. You wanted them to solve the crimes that only you cared about. Even now, you're letting them take the fall for you. There really is no helping you, is there?"

* * *

Lying on the floor, I didn't get a good view of what happened next. There was a bright flash, and all the wildebeests backed off. Looking back, I saw that a skull shaped metal mask had appeared on Ryuji's face. A mask that was causing him immense distress, as he was screaming and trying desperately to pull it off. Harder and harder, until it flew off, leaving a strip of blood on his face where the mask used to be. Then came the fire, cascading past us and incinerating all the wildebeests. The knight in gold recoiled back, retreating behind its shield.

"Looks like you could use some help," said a figure hovering over Ryuji. It was tall, skeletal, dressed like a classic pirate, and hefted a heavy looking section of pipe in one hand.

"Damn straight!" Ryuji said. He had suffered a change of outfit too, getting some kind of stiff, pointed coat and bright yellow gloves, along with the same mask he had just torn off. And some kind of bright red tie. And those belts!

"This one too?" Kamoshida muttered, stepping backwards. "Kill them! Kill them all!"

The golden knight advanced on us, horns growing from underneath its helmet, its spear ready to strike.

Ryuji wasn't fazed. "Show 'em what we got, captain!"

Ryuji's persona responded by raising his hand, from which a current of electricity shot out. It arced through the air, striking the knight and humming as it ran up and down its armor. After a second, the knight lurched to the floor, dropping its shield and struggling to keep its spear facing upwards. Morgana took the opportunity to lunge forward and strike it with his sword, which bounced right off the knight's armor.

"Okay, seriously, let's bail now," I said, as the knight struggled to get back up.

Morgana led the way as we sprinted for the room with the open window, leaving a furious Kamoshida in our wake. Owing to our haste, we ended up having rough landings as we hurriedly jumped out of the window and onto the grass below.

"I can't believe I was stupid enough to do that again," I said, rubbing the spots where the wildebeests had stepped on me.

"What's the deal with these clothes, though?" Ryuji asked, examining his new getup.

"It's what happens when you awaken a persona," Morgana said. "You fight off the distortions of a palace by channeling your spirit of rebellion. So you end up projecting your own image of what a rebellious person looks like onto yourself."

"What about you, then?" I said.

Morgana tugged at the yellow bandana on his neck. "What about me?"

"What's so rebellious about a yellow bandana?"

"It doesn't matter. What's important is that you guys have the info you need about Kamoshida, right?"

"Yeah," Ryuji said. "All we need to do now is talk to these students in the real world and figure out what he's been doin' to them."

I crossed my arms in front of my chest. "You keep saying 'we'."

Ryuji turned on me. "After all this, you still don't buy that this guy's a monster?"

"Ryuji's right, I think," Morgana said. "The Kamoshida in the castle is a reflection of the real Kamoshida's thoughts and desires, after all."

"Even if he is as bad as you say, there's only so much we can do about it," I said. "Out in the real world, we're still just two teenagers and a cat. Not criminal investigators."

Ryuji's face darkened. "You might be right. But we still have to try. Will you help us out?"

"I'm not promising anything extreme. I mean, we almost got killed today, and that's something I'd like to avoid in the future. But if it's just low key stuff, I guess I could look at it." _I mean, it's not like my reputation can get much worse, at this point._ _And it should keep Arsene content._ "What about you, Morgana?"

"I don't know if there's that much I can do for you on your side," Morgana said. "Anyways, there are some things I'd like to check out on my own right now. After that, I'd like it if you could help me look into some other things in the Metaverse. I can meet up with you guys two days from now, at the entrance of your school. Sound good?"

Ryuji and me both nodded.

"Then I'll see you there. Bye!" Morgana then turned and began walking away from the castle.

"He's weird, isn't he?" Ryuji asked.

I blinked. "So it is a he, then?"

"Oh, yeah. Anyway, I was wondering - how'd you manage to get into the castle when you left?"

"I used this app thing," I said, pulling out my phone. "I first found it on my phone a couple days ago. It didn't do anything back then, from what I can tell."

"Really? I found the same app on my phone yesterday. Weird. I think it's some kinda navigator thing. Like, it has a list of previous locations, and the voice will tell you if you're going there or not."

"Voice?"

"Yeah, it'll ask you for a location or somethin'. Let's see what it says if we leave the, uh, Metaverse?"

We walked into the alley that we originally came through. Right before we reached the street on the other side, a voice came from Ryuji's pocket.

" _Returning to the real world_."

"See, that was what I was talking about," Ryuji said, now suddenly wearing his school uniform again. "Does yours not have it?"

"I think it does. I just have the volume muted."

"Whatever." Ryuji made to leave, and then paused. "Can you meet up tomorrow at lunch? That's when I'm planning to start looking into the business with Kamoshida."

"Yeah, I guess. Just remember that I'm not promising the world on this."

"Right." Ryuji walked out of the alley, leaving me feeling uncertain and a little queasy. The question of whether I was making the right choices, and what the consequences for them might be, hung heavily in my mind.

 _Just keep calm. Focus. You haven't done anything wrong today. Keep on working on having a low profile. That's what's important._


End file.
